Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1887-12-18

women, having abandoned the vulgai
ashton of wearing stuffed bird corpse
IN their hats, will return TO their ol
owe, the del cate plumes OF the o..
rich, the wearing of which involve
10 cruel massacre Of innocents. Ana
California has another kind OF plum
% which the attention of wonleI
should be directed, the product OF
hat might be called the yege
table ostrich--pampas grass. Moth
ing more exquisite for u vase or I.1
3 fan-shaped wall ornament conlo
he imagined than these bushy "h'le
Cor colored) plumes winch IN Los an
seles county attain the height oil thlr-
ty-six inches. not in luding the stem
Formerly. " hen these plnmes were
imported from South America. fioils'e
cha, ged 81 or even 81 80 apiece Tor
them no a the etail price is 20 cent?,
and the wholesale price or cent.
Vast quantities are bel g exported TO
Europs. hut Southern California -
able % supply the demand OF several
continents, as the pampas erase, Ike
most plants, grows there like weed.
A dark cl ud has, however, iatei!
risen, and is for the moment casting
an omrnous shadow over the cheerful
Of California. All the pro-
ducts so far mentioned are, OF cour.e,
in importance to the
grape crop; and the California grape
vine is at present threatened by an
enemy more dangerous, because more
OBJ cure, ti,an the pin, lloxera. A fe"
wears ago some Of the grapeviDes in
Los Angeles county suddenly begin
10 die out. Among these were some
Of the oldest vineyards, eighty
wears old or more. Indeed, the obi
Mission grape WAS the first to he at
tackled. Then followed other varieties,
always in the same order in each v,ne-
yard. The disease begins at the tip Of
the vines and slowly spreads down
war Is, the roots being affected last.
The second season the crop Is a Com
parative failure, and the third the
vineyard is a graveyard, tine lady
told me she had hal dug up and used
as fuel as many as so 900 of her vines
within q few years. The disease is
said to be not ply lloxera nor nildew;
nor have the chemical experts who
have examined the vines been able
to throw any light on the matter, ex-
cept by attributing the decay to a kind
of cellular degeneration. Va ious
theories are being discussed, and the
owners of the vineyards meanwhile
console themselves with the state
ment that similar mysterious dis
ease affected the grapes Of Sicily and
Madeira at one tune, and disappeared
alter few years, allowing the young
vines to grow AS before. What causes
them to look with comparative indif
ference on this temporary Gas they
hope) interruption of business is he
fact that there has b ell an owe pro
DUCT IN of grapes, in consequence Of
which the price of vine has fallen to
Improbable figures. An interrup-
ton of u lew years in this excessive pro-
auction would raise the price and
thus pay for the losses now sustained
In the meantime the nipe-growers
wonld do we'll 10 ponder the fact that
quality is of much more ,lue, finan-
cislly and systematically, than guam
tity. Labor Is scarce i'll harvest lime,
and, to save trouble, too many of the
small growers neglect to pick out the
green and sour grapes, which there
10 9 viiiate the juice OF the whole
bunch or else they intrust the clean
ing Of their old barrels to igno ant
Cinnamon (t'e Indians have all dis
appeared), with equally disastrous
results. Too many Eastern people
have contracted absurd prejudi-
ces against California wines, be-
cause chance threw some of this sour
wine into their cellars. But it NAV be
safely stated that the average Caller
mia claret, and white wine, and port
are superior to the vine that may he
bought for the same money in France
and Germany, and elsewhere. The
labels OF famous French wines and
cognacs are for sale openly in tie
showcases Of country stores in Los
county, These honest folks
are practically compel ed 10 use this
They would much prefer
to sell their best wines under G ,lilor-
mia labels, in order to build up heir.
Whatever may be the outcome Of
the present VINEYARD epidemic, s nth
ern California will have plenty of
other things to fall back upon; and at
present it almost looks as ii all the
crops were to be neglected, compare
lively, and s 2ecialty made Of build
ing hotels for invalids and tourists.
Among the special attractions for TOUR
lists is quail hunting in the foothills.
The physician already referred to
kindly took me out on an afternoon
hunt. We drove in q tough two
horse buggy, up and down hill
and along the dry bed of brook,
carefully dodging the bristling cactus
bushes, which are apt to make deep
on "tenderfoot" visitors,
less by the. grotesque manner in
which their fleshy leaves are stu''k on
one another at odd angles than by
their f>h-hook-i ke spines. These
prickly leaves are 80 arranged that
nothing larger than quail or rab-
bit can get under their protecting
shadows. The dogs give them a wide
perrin, ana tn0 Qudll can only De suot
on the wing if they are alarmed and
fy from one group of cactus bushes to
another. The result of an hours
buggy hunting was nine quails, three
pigeons, ard two rabbits
But, packing bottle Of Zinfandel
and one Of port into our valise. we
must be off for the East, bidding fare
we'll to the soporific and yet bracins
and fattening air and the valuable
dust of Los Angeles, and to the shady
orange groves and eucalyptus avenues
and the Mexican adobe huts, and the
nocturnal music of the hooking. birds,
and the cacophony Of the ROSTERS and
the coyotes, whose shrill yelps are, in
my opinion this is an original theory.
provocative of the very unortho'iox
conduct OF the initiative roo-ters in
Growing as early as 8 or 10 o'clock
at niyht, and at other absurd hour.
But before leaving California must
record what, after all, was my most
astounding experience in that land oil